The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

The Haxtun School District is a pillar of the Haxtun Community. We pride ourselves on having the best students, educators and facilities. The elementary school and vocational agriculture buildings were built in the 1960s and no longer meet current health, safety and educational standards.

When the district completed a master plan update in spring of 2023, the results came back with approximately $4,000,000 in prioritized issues that need to be corrected within the next five years, but resolving the urgent deficiencies falls short of creating a facility that is holistic, unified, and up-to-date, which was deemed a high priority in community meetings last May.

The community expressed the need to resolve existing safety and programming concerns, which include:

• Creating a centralized shared space for the cafeteria, art, music and library;

• Connecting the Vo-Ag building and the junior high with the high school;

• Eliminating the safety concerns of younger and older students sharing the same bathrooms;

• Eliminating the need to walk across campus for various classes therefore increasing the time students are in class;

• Building a new regulation-size auxiliary gym and locker rooms to replace the elementary gym;

• Increasing the size of our preschool rooms, which is required by licensing regulations.

The State funded BEST Program (Building Excellent Schools Today) is a competitive grant for the construction and renovation of schools. The State of Colorado recognizes the need for improved educational facilities in small school districts and is willing to provide funds to improve our schools. The time for our district to take advantage of this program is now, so our students have a 21st century educational facility.

In order to receive a BEST grant, the district must financially contribute a portion towards the total cost. Currently the project is estimated to cost between $50-60 million, with final estimates coming in December, so our contribution would be only 8-12 percent of the total project cost to create a holistic, safe and updated facility for our children. The investment by taxpayers for this bond is $4.07/month on a $100,000 residential property, $0.43 per acre per year for dryland, and $1.27 per acre per year for irrigated farm ground. Our children, our future need this.

Passing 5B allows us the ability to provide:

• Improved building security and safety for our students;

• New, updated elementary classrooms;

• Large preschool rooms;

• Regulation-size auxiliary gym;

• Two new sets of locker rooms;

• A new ag building;

• Increased teacher retention and recruitment through a modern, updated, forward-thinking and holistic facility;

• Resolutions to health, safety, security, and ADA concerns; and

• Support for the effective use of technology, allowing our students to engage in the occupations of the future.

This provides a 21st Century educational environment in one consolidated campus! Let us invest in our children and provide an excellent facility for their future.

Vote YES on 5B Committee

Mark Gueck, John Chapdelaine, Lee Salyards, Alicia Schram

and Heather Kurtzer